The HSCIC statistics show a drop in GP practice numbers combined with a 0.9% increase in the total number of patients registered with a GP across England.

While practice mergers may be partly responsible for these trends, practice closures are also increasing and the data also show a drop in practice numbers - there are currently 1.36% fewer practices than in April 2015.

’Whilst some of the increase may be due to practice mergers, much is due to the accelerating number of practice closures, with list dispersals and patient displacements putting surrounding practices under even greater pressure and leading to a domino effect.’

Readers' comments (4)

Anonymous
| Practice Manager19 Jan 2016 4:54pm

More worrying is that the impact of this on the Carr-Hill formula for small and medium practices is an increasing pressure on their GMS funding, which will eventually push them over the edge. Dominoes anyone?

Practices are left to sink. They would never allow that to happen to an acute trust. GP's are treated like the lowest form of life as far by NHSE.Impossible to deliver block contracts which become more onerous every day.

This year our list has dropped for the first time by 2.5 % as compared to 10-15% annual increases in previous 3 years. Somehow, govt statistics can't help being skewed. The only way to explain HSCIC data could be closure of Practices and redistribution of patients which could jack up the numbers.